Etruscan Bronze Statuette of Heracles

Culture: Etruscan

Period: 4th century B.C.

Material: Bronze

Dimensions: 8.4 cm high

Price: Sold

Ref: 4163

Provenance: From the French private collection M. R., acquired in the early 1980s.

Condition: The club only preserved as a fragment, the separately worked out fur of the lion missing. Overall, an impressive statuette with quite an early dating.

Description: Finely worked out solid bronze statuette of an unclothed Heracles with his right hand raised, which once held a club. The Greek hero with his weight on the right leg, the left one put forward in a striding position. In the left stretched forward hand a button-like ridge is still preserved, where the separately worked out fur of the Nemean lion was once attached. The spherical head with large eyes, slightly open mouth and a prominent nose. The short, thick hair is very elaborately worked out in cold work. Heracles was especially popular with the Etruscans, his bronze figures were placed as votive offerings in temples, particularly in the region of today’s Umbria. Mounted.